Interactive system and handheld device thereof

ABSTRACT

There is provided a handheld device for an interactive system. The handheld device identifies the timing that a user operates the handheld device to determine whether to turn on an indicating light for optical sensing to avoid the unnecessary power consumption.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan PatentApplication Ser. No. 106111535, filed on Apr. 6, 2017, the fulldisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure generally relates to an interactive system, moreparticularly, to an interactive system and a handheld method thereofthat effectively reduce the power consumption.

2. Description of the Related Art

If an interactive system (e.g., a virtual reality system or aninteractive pointing system) employs the optical sensing technique todetect the movement of an object (e.g., a handheld device), a lightsource may be disposed on the object so as to enhance the opticalsensing efficiency for the object. For example, an infrared light sourceis directly disposed on the object.

However, as a power source of a handheld device is generally an embeddedpower source (e.g., a battery) and the light source can consume a largeamount of electricity, the handheld device for the interactive systemgenerally adopts a battery with a large capacity. Accordingly, thevolume and weight of the handheld device cannot be reducedsignificantly.

Accordingly, it is required to provide an interactive system with lowpower consumption.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides an interactive system and a handhelddevice thereof that reduce the total power consumption.

The present disclosure provides a handheld device for an interactivesystem. The handheld device includes a light source and an operationdetector. The operation detector is configured to detect whether thehandheld device is being operated, wherein when the operation detectoris turned on, the light source is not turned on instantly; and the lightsource is turned on only when the operation detector detects thehandheld device being operated.

The handheld being operated is referred to that the handheld device ispicked up by a user to have accelerations (e.g., detected sensingsignals) or the handheld device is touched by the user to generate touchsignals (e.g., detected sensing signals).

The present disclosure provides an interactive system including aninteractive device and a handheld device. The interactive device isconfigured to send a wakeup signal. The handheld device includes a lightsource, an operation detector and a controller. The operation detectoris configured to detect whether the handheld device is being operated.The controller is electrically coupled to the light source and theoperation detector, and configured to turn on the operation detectoraccording to the wakeup signal without turning on the light source.

The present disclosure further provides an interactive system includinga wearable device and a handheld device. The wearable device isconfigured to send a wakeup signal. The handheld device includes a mainbody, a light source and an operation detector. The main body isconfigured to be held by a user. The light source is arranged on themain body. The operation detector is configured to detect whether thehandheld device is being operated, wherein when the operation detectoris turned on, the light source is not turned on instantly; and the lightsource is turned on only when the operation detector detects thehandheld device being operated.

In one embodiment, the interactive device is, for example, a wearabledevice, and the handheld device is, for example, a mobile phone or aremote controller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present disclosurewill become more apparent from the following detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic system diagram of an interactive system accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a handheld device according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a schematic system diagram of an interactive system accordingto another embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

It should be noted that, wherever possible, the same reference numberswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

The present disclosure is adaptable to an interactive system. Generally,the interactive system includes an interactive device and a handhelddevice. The handheld device is held by a user or fastened to the body ofthe user using a fastening such as a tying tape or a binding band. Theinteractive device detects the movement of the handheld device such thatthe user is provided to control the interactive device by operating thehandheld device.

In one embodiment, the interactive device is a wearable device and usedto be arranged on a user's body or worn by a user. The interactivedevice has an image display, or is wired or wirelessly coupled to anexternal image display.

The interactive device at least includes an optical image sensor, andthe handheld device correspondingly has a light source to be detected bythe optical image sensor. The optical image sensor captures image framescontaining an image of the light source to detect the imaging feature(e.g., the position, shape, size, brightness, color, illumination periodand so on) of the light source in the captured image frames to allow theuser to accordingly control the interactive device. Preferably, to avoidthe interference from ambient light, the optical image sensor detectslight of a specific wavelength (e.g., infrared light) through a filter,and the light source provides the light of said specific wavelength(e.g., an infrared light source for providing infrared light). Theoptical image sensor is, for example, a CCD image sensor or a CMOS imagesensor, but not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 1, it is a schematic system diagram of an interactivesystem according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, whereinthe interactive system 1000 includes an interactive device 100 and ahandheld device 200. The interactive device 100 includes an opticalimage sensor 110, an interactive host 120 and an image display 130, andthe handheld device 200 includes a main body 210 and a light source 220.As shown in FIG. 1, the light source 220 is arranged on the main body210.

The interactive host 120 receives the imaging feature of the lightsource 220 of the handheld device 200 detected by the optical imagesensor 110. The interactive host 120 further receives a control commandfrom the handheld device 200 through a wireless communication interface(not shown in figures), and controls the application program orinteractive games on the image display 130 according to the imagingfeature, the control command or a combination thereof. For example, theimage display 130 shows interactive pictures according to the imageframes acquired by the optical image sensor 110.

Referring to FIG. 2, it is a hardware block diagram of a handheld device200 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The main body210 of the handheld device 200 includes a battery 211, a communicationinterface 212, an accelerometer 213, a touch panel 214 and a controller215. The light source 220 has an illumination device 221 and atransparent housing 222. The transparent housing 222 is arranged outsideof the illumination device 221 to protect the illumination device 221.

The controller 215 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller (MCU) or an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC). The controller 215 is electrically coupled to the communicationinterface 212, the light source 220, the accelerometer 213 and the touchpanel 214, and communicates with the interactive device 100 through thecommunication interface 212. The controller 215 also controls whether toprovide the electricity from the battery 211 to the illumination device221 according to the sensing signals of the accelerometer 213 and/or thetouch panel 214.

In other words, the accelerometer 213 and the touch panel 214 are usedas operation detectors for detecting whether the handheld device 200 isbeing operated or not. The controller 215 is used to control the lightsource 220 according to the sensing signal of the operation detector.When the handheld device 200 is not being operated, the light source 220is lighted off to reduce the power consumption.

In one embodiment, the main body 210 has a recess (now shown in figures)to allow the user to hold the main body 210 more comfortable, or has anelastic band, groove or other fixing material for the user to hold orfor being fixed on a part of the user's body (e.g., the ankle) toperform the operation.

The battery 211 is used to provide electricity respectively required bythe components in the main body 210 and the light source 220 duringoperation. The communication interface 212 is used to perform thewireless communication with the interactive host 120, e.g., using theshort distance communication technology such as Bluetooth, near fieldcommunication (NFC) or WiFi. The accelerometer 213 is used to detect themovement of the main body 210 and generate sensing signals. It ispossible to replace the accelerometer 213, based on the cost andrequirement, by a gyro or other inertial sensors as long as the movementof the main body 210 itself is detectable. The touch panel 214 isprovided as a command input or operating interface for the user andgenerates sensing signals. It is possible to replace the touch panel214, based on the cost and requirement, by mechanical button or othercommand input devices as long as the user is able to input controlcommands by finger pressing/sliding. The controller 215 is used toreceive the sensing signals from the accelerometer 213 and the touchpanel 214 to accordingly generate a control command, and the controlcommand is provided to the interactive host 120 via the communicationinterface 212.

In other words, in the present disclosure, the operation detector is atleast one of the accelerometer 213 and the touch panel 214, and used todetect whether the handheld device 200 is being operated. The controller215 then controls the light source 220 (more specifically theillumination device 221) according to the sensing signal detected by theoperation detector. To reduce the power consumption, the light source220 is not instantly turned on when the operation detector is turned onto perform the detection; and the light source 220 is turned on onlywhen the operation detector detects that the handheld device 200 isbeing operated, wherein the light source 220 not being turned on hereinrefers to that the electricity from the battery 211 is not provided tothe light source 220.

The illumination device 221 is selected from a single emission component(e.g., LED) or formed by a plurality of emission components. To generatelight of a specific wavelength, the illumination device 221 is used todirectly emit light of the specific wavelength, or the transparenthousing 222 filters the light emitted by the illumination device 221 togenerate the light of said specific wavelength. For example, theillumination device 221 is an infrared light source for emittinginfrared light, and the transparent housing 22 is transparent only toinfrared light or transparent to both visible light and infrared light;or, the illumination device 221 emits both visible light and infraredlight and the illumination device 222 is transparent only to infraredlight. The transparent housing 222 is a hollow component or a spheretightly wrapping around the illumination device 221 without any spacetherebetween as long as the transparent housing 222 has the feature toallow the light of said specific wavelength to penetrate. To improve thesensing effect of the optical image sensor 110, the transparent housing222 preferably has a spherical shape and diffuses light emitted from theillumination device 221 such that the optical image sensor 110 has asubstantially identical imaging effect when observing the light source220 from different angles. Said substantially identical imaging effectmentioned herein is referred to having substantially identical sizes,brightness, shapes, colors, emission periods and so on.

When the interactive system 1000 is activated or turned on, saidinteractive device 100 awakes the handheld device 200 through thecommunication interface thereof, e.g., sending a wakeup signal Sw forbeing received by the communication interface 212 of the handheld device220. However, when the interactive system 1000 is turned on, it is notsure whether a user is going to operate the handheld device 200, e.g.,the user using other input devices or another identical handheld device(i.e. the interactive system 1000 having several identical handhelddevices). Accordingly, the controller 215 of the handheld device 200 isnot necessary to turn on all components but only to turn on theoperation detector (e.g., the accelerometer 213 and/or the touch panel214) for detecting the operation of a user and keeps other componentsbeing turned off. The controller 215 identifies that whether the user isoperating the handheld device 200 according to the sensing signals ofthe accelerometer 213 and/or the touch panel 214. When the handhelddevice 200 is confirmed to be operated by the user, the light source 110is turned on. However, when the handheld device 200 is not beingoperated, the light source 220 is not turned on or not lighted so as toreduce the power consumption of the handheld device 200.

In one embodiment, when the handheld device 200 starts to operate (e.g.,startup, wakeup or power on), the controller 215 controls the lightsource 220 (more specifically the illumination device 221) to turn onfor a predetermined period of time (e.g., 1 to 2 seconds) and then toturn off for indicating that the handheld device 200 is ready foroperation without considering the sensing signals from the accelerometer213 or the touch panel 214. For example, the accelerometer 213 or thetouch panel 214 is activated (e.g., powered on or outputting sensingsignals) after the light source 220 is turned off from the short-termemission after the handheld device 200 starts to operate. Then, thelight source 220 is turned on or lighted again only when the handhelddevice 200 is being operated.

In another embodiment, the accelerometer 213 or the touch panel 214 isactivated simultaneously when the handheld device 200 starts to operate.The controller 215 controls the light source 220 to turn on for saidpredetermined period of time, and if the controller 215 receives validsensing signals from the accelerometer 213 or the touch panel 214, thecontroller 215 controls the light source 220 to emit light continuouslyfrom the short-term emission instead of being turned off at first andthen turned on again.

In other words, the interactive device 100 is used to generate a wakeupsignal Sw. When the handheld device 200 receives the wakeup signal Swthrough the communication interface 212 to be awaked, only the operationdetector is turned on but the light source 220 is not turned oninstantly. The controller 215 controls the light source 220 to emitlight with a predetermined feature after the controller 215 receives thesensing signal from the accelerometer 213 and/or the touch panel 214 andidentifies that the handheld device 200 is being operated.

In some embodiments, after the controller 215 turns on the light source220 and when the controller 215 does not receive any valid sensingsignal for a predetermined time interval (indicating that the operationdetector does not detect the handheld device 200 being operated), thelight source 220 is turned off. The light source 220 is turned on againtill the controller 215 receives the valid sensing signal again. Thevalid sensing signal herein refers to a value thereof exceeding apredetermined value or a predetermined range.

When the handheld device 200 is awaken, the controller 215 provides theelectricity from the battery 211 to the accelerometer 213 and/or thetouch panel 214 only but not instantly provide the electricity to theillumination device 221. The electricity from the battery 211 isprovided to the illumination device 221 only when it is confirmed thatthe accelerometer 213 senses the handheld device 200 being moved (e.g.,the detected acceleration value exceeding a predetermined range orpredetermined value) and/or the touch panel 214 senses a touch input(e.g., detecting contact of one or multiple objects). In one embodiment,it is possible to implement the providing and not providing theelectricity using switching devices, a multiplexer or other suitablecircuits without particular limitations.

The controller 215 further adjusts the emission features, e.g., theshape, size, brightness, color, emission period and so on, of theillumination device 221 according to the sensing signal of theaccelerometer 213 and/or the touch panel 214 to accordingly allow theinteractive host 120 to identify the imaging feature (e.g., theposition, shape, size, brightness, color, emission period and so on) ofthe illumination device 221 in the images captured by the optical imagesensor 110 to further control the interactive device 100 accordingly.The control of the interactive device 100 is, e.g., controlling picturesshown on and sounds played by a speaker of the image display 130 by theinteractive host 120. The interactive host 120 includes, for example, acentral processing unit (CPU) used to control the interactive picturesaccording to the imaging feature of the light source 220 in the capturedimages.

In another embodiment, the interactive device is directly used as awearable device to be arranged on the user's body, e.g. a head mounteddevice arranged on the user's head. Referring to FIG. 3, it is aschematic system diagram of the interactive device of an interactivesystem mounted on a user's head according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In this embodiment, an interactive device 300 isarranged on the user's head, and the handheld device 200 is similar tothose shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and thus details thereof are not repeatedherein.

In this embodiment, the interactive device 300 includes an optical imagesensor 310 and an interactive host 320. The optical image sensor 310 isdisposed on the interactive host 320 or integrated in the casing of theinteractive host 320. The optical image sensor 310 and the interactivehost 320 in FIG. 3 are similar to the optical image sensor 110 and theinteractive host 120 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1. The inner layerof the interactive host 320 has a display (not shown) opposite to user'seyes for providing the same function of the image display 130 shown inthe embodiment of FIG. 1. In another embodiment, the interactive device300 sends control or image/audio signals to an external image display,which has the same function of the image display 130, through wired orwireless technology, to reduce the weight of the interactive device 300.

In the system arrangement of FIGS. 1 and 3, the handheld device 200 usesits accelerometer 213 and/or the touch panel 214 to detect whether theuser is operating the handheld device 200 and further determines whetherto provide power to and activate the illumination device 221. In thisway, the power consumption of the handheld device 200 is reduced and theaccidental activation of the light source 200 which causes undesiredlight interference is avoided.

It should be mentioned that a number of the components in the drawingsof the present disclosure is only intended to illustrate but not tolimit the present disclosure. For example, it is possible that thehandheld device 200 includes several touch panels 214, severalaccelerometers 213 and/or several illumination devices 211 to performthe operations mentioned above depending on different applications.

It should be mentioned that although FIG. 2 is illustrated as hardwareblock diagram, in some embodiments the controller 215 of FIG. 2 includessoftware codes and/or hardware codes to perform the above operations.The method of integrating software codes and/or hardware codes in thecontroller 215 is known to the art and thus details thereof are notdescribed herein.

As mentioned above, the light source of a handheld device can consumemost of the system power, and thus how to reduce the total powerconsumption of a handheld device is an important issue. Therefore, thepresent disclosure provides an interactive system (FIGS. 1 and 3) and ahandheld device thereof (FIG. 2) that provide an operation detector onthe handheld device as a mechanism for confirming whether the handhelddevice is being operated. When the handheld device is not beingoperated, a light source of the handheld device is not lighted to reducethe power consumption; and the light source of the handheld device islighted only when the handheld device is being operated.

Although the disclosure has been explained in relation to its preferredembodiment, it is not used to limit the disclosure. It is to beunderstood that many other possible modifications and variations can bemade by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A handheld device for an interactive system, thehandheld device comprising: a light source configured to emit light toan external image sensor separated from the handheld device; anoperation detector configured to detect whether the handheld device isbeing operated, wherein when the operation detector is turned on, thelight source is not turned on instantly, and the light source is turnedon only when the turned-on operation detector detects the handhelddevice being operated; and a controller electrically coupled to thelight source and the operation detector, and configured to control anemission period of the light source according to a sensing signal of theoperation detector.
 2. The handheld device as claimed in claim 1,wherein the operation detector is at least one of an accelerometer and atouch panel.
 3. The handheld device as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a communication interface configured to receive a wakeupsignal to turn on the operation detector.
 4. The handheld device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured tocontrol at least one of a size, a shape and brightness of the lightemitted by the light source.
 5. A handheld device for an interactivesystem, the handheld device comprising: a light source configured toemit light to an external image sensor separated from the handhelddevice; an operation detector configured to detect whether the handhelddevice is being operated, wherein when the operation detector is turnedon, the light source is not turned on instantly, and the light source isturned on only when the turned-on operation detector detects thehandheld device being operated; and a controller configured to controlthe light source to turn on for a predetermined period of time and thenturn off when the handheld device starts to operate.
 6. The handhelddevice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source comprises anillumination device and a transparent housing which is arranged outsideof the illumination device, the illumination device is an infrared lightsource, and the transparent housing is transparent to visible light andinfrared light.
 7. The handheld device as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe light source comprises an illumination device and a transparenthousing which is arranged outside of the illumination device, theillumination device is configured to emit visible light and infraredlight, and the transparent housing is transparent only to the infraredlight.
 8. An interactive system, comprising: an interactive deviceconfigured to send a wakeup signal; and a handheld device comprising: alight source; an operation detector configured to detect whether thehandheld device is being operated; and a controller electrically coupledto the light source and the operation detector, and configured to turnon the operation detector according to the wakeup signal without turningon the light source, and control an emission period of the light sourceaccording to a sensing signal of the operation detector.
 9. Theinteractive system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the light source isturned on only when the controller identifies that the handheld deviceis being operated according to the sensing signal of the operationdetector.
 10. The interactive system as claimed in claim 8, wherein theinteractive device comprises an optical image sensor configured tocapture images of the light source on the handheld device.
 11. Theinteractive system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the interactive devicefurther comprises an image display configured to show interactivepictures according to the images captured by the optical image sensor.12. The interactive system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the operationdetector is at least one of an accelerometer and a touch panel.
 13. Theinteractive system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the handheld devicefurther comprises a communication interface electrically coupled to thecontroller, and the communication interface is configured to receive thewakeup signal.
 14. The interactive system as claimed in claim 8, whereinthe light source comprises an illumination device and a transparenthousing which is arranged outside of the illumination device.
 15. Theinteractive system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the illuminationdevice is an infrared light source, and the transparent housing istransparent to visible light and infrared light.
 16. The handheld deviceas claimed in claim 5, wherein the light source is turned on for thepredetermined period of time and then turned off irrelevant to a sensingsignal from the operation detector.
 17. The interactive system asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the light source comprises an illuminationdevice configured to emit visible light and infrared light, and atransparent housing transparent to only the infrared light; and theoptical image sensor is an infrared image sensor.